KIDS FIRST! Film Festival offers summer fun

The University of Hawaiʻi KIDS FIRST! Film Festival returns for its eighth year with another summer of quality family fun. The KIDS FIRST! Film Festival screens on Sundays, June 8, 22, 29 and July 13 at 3 p.m. at the UH Mānoa Art Auditorium.

KIDS FIRST! Films are free of gratuitous violence; race, gender, or religious bias; inappropriate content and condescension towards children. Age-appropriate groupings of films entertain through a balance of animation and live action, plus varied themes from different cultures.

The event is free and offers door prizes. Doors open half an hour before showtime, first-come, first-served.

June 8—Sophia Grace and Rosie’s Royal Adventure (ages 5+, 70 minutes): The talented British cousins Sophia Grace and Rosie reached stardom on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Their first fun-filled movie follows the girls as they are sent as Ellen’s correspondents to cover the coronation of a new queen in a fictional country.

June 22—Lotte from Gadgetville (ages 4+, 81 minutes), dubbed in English: This feature-length animation from Estonia follows Lotte, a cheerful girl-puppy and her friends who live in a village obsessed with inventing wacky gadgets and time-saving machines.

June 29—Peppa Pig: My Birthday Party: Peppa the lovable little piggy is a global sensation. Every “peppasode” ends happily with loud snorts of laughter. (4 episodes, 5 minutes each). Poppy Cat: Birthday Treasure and Other Adventures: Join Poppy Cat and her friends as they embark on adventures, all through the eyes of Poppy’s imaginative young owner. (3 episodes; 11 minutes each).

July 13—Wolf Summer (ages 10+, 88 minutes) in Norwegian with English subtitles: When 12-year-old Kim decides to solo climb the “East Wall” and falls, she wakes up trapped in a shack with a other wolf and her cub. (Please note for sensitive children: the film contains scenes with hunters and guns, and some animal carcasses are shown.)